The permits committee in the State Comptroller’s Office was about to decide yet again on the premier’s request to take 2 million shekels ($557,000) from his cousin to help fund his legal defense in the three criminal cases in which he may be indicted, pending a hearing.

Netanyahu said he will instead seek to raise the funds from a different businessman, Spencer Partrich, and that he is considering a request to another donor. Hanging over this are revelations that Netanyahu made money by buying and selling discounted shares in a company owned by Milikowsky, an issue now being investigated by prosecutors.

Netanyahu’s lawyers said they would refuse to comply with the preconditions set down by the permits committee before meeting them, including the filing of a declaration of assets by Netanyahu and complete details of the relationship between him and Partrich. This goes against the compromise arrived at before the High Court of Justice, under which the committee agreed to hold another hearing on Netanyahu’s request to get help from tycoons for his legal defense, while Netanyahu “would provide the committee, at its request, all details it may request for the purpose of the supplementary hearing.”

In response to Netanyahu’s petition, the members of the committee in its previous composition wrote that he apparently “has not bothered to pay even one shekel of his own money to finance his legal defense." In addition, the committee wrote that Netanyahu had not answered various questions, including the total amount required to finance his legal expenses, if he had paid anything toward his defense – and if so, how much – and how much he might be able to fund on his own later on.

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The attorneys said in their letter that they wanted to meet the committee members as soon as possible, because their decision could have an impact on the hearing to be held for Netanyahu by the attorney general. Last month, Haaretz reported that Netanyahu’s lawyers had refused to collect the investigative material in his cases to prepare for the hearing until they could be assured their fees would be paid. Mendelblit has said Netanyahu’s hearing would be held by July, but chances of that happening are essentially nil.

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.